Data is often exchanged between two computer systems, particularly over the internet, using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP/IP is integrated into the OSI reference model for networks wherein TCP performs the transport layer function and IP performs the network layer function. Because TCP/IP is a part of the normal network software contained within a computer system, direct use of TCP/IP will usually penetrate the firewall established for the computer system. Because of this, most computer systems are set up to not allow the direct use of TCP/IP within their computer systems, except for certain well known applications such as electronic mail, thus to avoid the penetration of the firewall by an unknown and untested application.
When communicating between computer systems, one can accept the penetration of the firewall and use TCP/IP directly, or find another solution which does not penetrate the firewall. One such solution is to use dial-up modems to establish a point-to-point link between the two computers. With this type of connection no other computer systems could attach to the link, therefore, there is no possibility of penetrating the firewall within either computer system. Using modems, however, increases the cost of the is connection, because of the additional cost of the modems plus the costs of the long distance telephone charges for each connection, when the connection is not a local connection. Using dial-up modems also increases the complexity of the connection, because of the necessity to either manually dial the telephone to make the connection, or provide software that performs the dialing and connecting processes, in addition to the original communication process.
Another problem with the prior art use of TCP/IP is that not all computer systems have this protocol available. If this protocol is not available on a computer system, then obviously it cannot be used to communicate with another computer system.
There is need in the art then for a communications system between two computers that avoids the complexity and costs of dial-up connections, while also avoiding the firewall penetration problems caused by direct TCP/IP connections. Still another need is for such a communications system that does not rely on TCP/IP being present in a computer system. The present invention meets these and other needs in the art.